Elections of state representatives in 13 states with state legislative term limits take place on November 2, 2010. The 13 states where state legislative elections are impacted by term limits are close to 30% of the 45 states where state legislative elections of lower house members take place in 2010.

Differential impact on parties

Going into the November 2010 election, the Democratic Party is the majority party in 7 of the 13 state houses with term limits. The Republican Party is the majority party in 5 of the term-limited state houses. One state -- Montana -- is equal with 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats.

In 6 states, the term limits axe falls more heavily on incumbent Republicans: Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma and South Dakota. In 5 of these states, the current majority party is also the Republican Party. The Montana House is currently evenly split at 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans.

In 6 states, the term limits axe falls more heavily on incumbent Democrats: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Michigan, Nevada and Ohio. In all 6 of these states, the current majority party is also the Democratic Party.

In 1 state, the axe falls equally on both parties (Maine).

Overview chart

Note: The figures in Column 5 ("Seats impacted by term limits") only reflects current members of state houses who are unable to run for re-election to their state's senate in 2010 because of term limits. In some cases, including cases in California and Florida, state representatives who would have been unable to run for re-election in November resigned earlier in the year or were appointed to other positions. Representatives who resigned, and are not current members of their state houses, are not counted in these figures.

California

The California State Assembly has been a term-limited state house since California voters approved Proposition 140 in 1990. Under the terms of Proposition 140, the members of the state assembly can serve no more than three 2-year terms in the state assembly. This is a lifetime limit, as is the case in five other states with state legislative term limits.

There are 80 members in the state assembly, and 18 of them (22%) termed-out in 2010.